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SENATORS should refrain from commenting on the merits of Vice-President Sara Duterte-Carpio’s impeachment trial, a congressman said on Tuesday, urging them to limit their statements over concerns that they could sway public perception.

“Maybe let’s limit our statements to how the process should go about during the trial, and not on the substance, especially our position with regard to the impeachment and the articles of impeachment” Iloilo Rep. Lorenz R. Defensor, a member of the prosecution team for Ms. Duterte’s trial, told reporters.

It would be “unbecoming” for a senator to comment on the impeachment trial, he said, as issuing statements regarding the merits of the impeachment may “telegraph” their biases to the public.

Ms. Duterte, who emerged as a contender in the 2028 presidential election, was impeached by the House of Representatives in February, and is facing a slew of accusations ranging from budget anomalies to plotting the assassination of President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr., his wife and the Speaker. She has denied any wrongdoing.

The senators who would act as jurors for the trial are expected to hear Ms. Duterte’s trial in late July.

“I hope those senator-judges exercise some self-control,” Party-list Rep. Leila M. de Lima told reporters in Filipino. “They should be careful about what they say, because it reflects their prejudices, biases and predisposition on how they might decide the case.” — Kenneth Christiane L. Basilio